By Sham Jaff
NUREMBERG, Germany – Kurds celebrating newroz reacted with shock and grief after twin bombs at a new year’s gathering killed at least 35 people in the predominantly Kurdish city of Hasakah in northeastern Syria, dampening festivities around the world.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks, which went off near the el-Mufti district in Hasakah as many Syrian Kurds gathered for Newroz, the feast that Kurds celebrate as their new year on Saturday.
“These heinous attacks took place during a holiday that is customarily a time for Kurdish communities to come together to share their hopes for the new year,” Ban said in a statement.
Rudaw’s correspondent in Hasakah, Ivan Hasib, said that the first explosion occurred at 6:00 pm local time outside the office of the Kurdish Democratic group TEV-DEM, where hundreds had gathered to join celebrations with family and friends. The second was a car bomb that targeted a crowd in front of the local office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (PDKS).
Authorities and other sources said at least 35 people were killed and more than 150 wounded, many children out for Newroz celebrations with parents and family.
The number killed and wounded remained unclear, as information from local officials continued to come in, mounting the toll of casualties. Eyewitness photographs of the bloody aftermath kept a steady appearance on social media sites. The first faces of victims to appear on tweets were those of children.
News of the bombings went viral almost immediately, with #Hasakah bursting with eyewitness accounts and comments from people around the globe.
Civilians caught in the blast were rushed to various local hospitals, as Newroz celebrations across Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) came to a halt. Pictures circulating on social media soon after the attack showed people in the Cezire Canton, where Hasakah is located, donating blood for victims.
Soon after the blasts, ISIS claimed responsibility via social media channels.
“What's wrong with the world?” tweeted Joan Salihi, a freelance writer from Norway. “Killing civilians nor anyone can ever be justified by any religion /ideology.”
Norway-based media consultant Becky Bakr Abdulla was among the many who tweeted condolences for victims. “My thoughts are with the victims of the bombing at yesterday's Newroz celebrations,” she said on #Hasakah
For 27-year-old Sara Seidi in Denmark, the explosions meant toning down even more the celebrations that the family had decided should remain somber, in honor of so many Kurds dying in the wars with ISIS, or Daesh as the Sunni militant extremists are known in Arabic.
"What is there to celebrate when your people are suffering?" said Seidi.
Washington-based political analyst Mutlu Civiroglu was in Kobane doing an interview with a Kurdish commander when he first heard about the Hasakah attacks.
“I thought how perpetrators really hate Kurds to target them on their special day. When I learnt that the number of casualties mainly included children and women it was even more heartbreaking,” Civiroglu added.
In the Kurdistan Region, authorities immediately announced they were ready to help with treatment of the wounded. “We are getting ready to supply medicine and donated blood to the people who were wounded in Hasakah,” Dr Nezar Ismat, the general director of health in Duhok province, told Rudaw shortly after the attacks.
Hoshmand Sami, a 31-year-old doctor in London, was at the airport on his way to see his family in France when he saw the news of the attack on his Twitter feed. Suddenly, for him going home meant rushing to find out if his family members – stretching from Iraqi Kurdistan to Rojava – are all okay.
“I am deeply concerned for the well-being of the many who were caught in the blasts,” he said.
